SEVEN

      Seven. It is not only a number found on the jersey of popular good-looking football star, nor refers to titles in tennis or boxing, nor refers to the number of trophies or championships, nor the movie title starred by the highest paid actor but seven refers to a lot of things especially in numerology.  Whenever you read seven, it does not always literally mean seven things or seven occurrences.  It is symbolic of a completion or the perfect picture of things.  In the Bible, the number seven appears 600 times! (www.examiner.com)

      Yesterday, the Highway Evangelical Church with the Believers' Fellowship had the Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross to recall and re-learn its importance on every christian's life.

         The Assurance of God's Pardon

 In Luke 23:34, the first saying  "Father, Forgive Them.." 

         Personally reminds me of my father, the one I run to to get little something when he comes home, the lap I sat on to when I was younger, the one who treated me as his favorite.  Our earthly father provides us with what we need and forgives us when we do wrong.  Our Heavenly Father is more than that!

          Pastor Dan encouraged me to let myself into prayer for revival, for renewal of the father and daughter connection.  I'm assured that the heavenly father will pardon me of all my sins.

         The Personal Word of Immediate Pardon

In Luke 23:43, the second saying "Today, You Shall be with Me in Paradise"

         I remember my kindergarten days when I wanted my hair curled, immediately my mother called on our neighbor and started the job done. How much more our God, in His assurance of giving and forgiving if we only ask it from Him.

         The Call to Care for Human Welfare

The third saying in John 19:26, "Woman, Behold Your Son..."

        Human as we are, it is innate in us to have that fatherly or motherly feeling to care for others, whether it is a friend, a relative, a neighbor, even more a family member. God has given as parables in the Bible to emulate the call to share and to care. Be a blessing to others today, helping or sharing or giving does not make us poor after all, it makes us richer in love and joy.

        Listening to The Voice of the Abandoned

In Matthew 27:46, the fourth saying "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

      This is the time when Jesus is in real human form, the agony of being left out, abandoned, forsaken.  There comes a time in our life when we're so low and heavy with burden, we ask God "Why?".  Again, the assurance is God knows we can carry it through.

       Responding  to God's Deepest Longing

The fifth saying in John 19:28. "I Thirst"

       Physically, the longing for water or something to drink. I have read that drinking 2 glasses of water upon waking up in the morning can help cure diseases and "moisturize" you all day.  On that cross, when Jesus said that, he has no water to drink, but bitter sop as bitter as our sins and He just take it in to take us up with Him, soon!   

      Emotionally, the longing for love.  Everyone longs to love and to be loved.  As said, it's the sweetest feeling of comfort and care and having to someone share with all the joys, the sorrows, the pains, the burdens and the bills!

      Spiritually, the longing to a broken fellowship.  Love bonds people and hopefully, that first love which is desiring to serve, longing to hear and with intense enthusiasm can hold on until the last breath. Let me recall, a story one missionary told us, if one is starting to have fellowship, words are so sweet. Like when one is on a relationship, the terms of endearment is " sweetheart", when married it becomes. "sweet" and when the relationship/fellowship got longer it becomes "sht"! True indeed, when we first received Jesus, we are so in love that fellowship is so sweet and on regular basis of communicating to God and fellow christians and as we age, we slowly let go of that enthusiasm.  God is longing for our service to him and to others as Christians.

         Finishing God's Mission To Us

The sixth sixth saying, "It Is Finished" found in John 19:30

        Part of being a parent is to take care of the needs of a child, that is to feed them and send them to school.  Some parents don't realize their ultimate task! But our heavenly father, finished His task on the cross and that we are thankful.  And I'm thankful as well to my parents who did well in raising us up and our extended father(my Uncle Veroy, who finished his mission to carry us through our pretty hard-uplife before he personally went on with his new mission!)

     Moment of Entrusting and CommitmentThe Seventh saying "Father, Into Your Hand..."  Luke 23:48

       As Good Friday ended, let's reflect on what God and His Son Jesus Christ has done to our lives and also our parents.  God showed the Greatest Love Of All, by sending His Son to be one of us, to feel our need, to suffer with us and forgive.  Our parents has showed their love to us and sooner it's our turn to commit to repay what they have done.  

SEVEN ultimately means fulfillment of a prophecy, the completion of the whole picture of Jesus born a to a virgin.  Seven constitutes a cycle, God loved us, so we should love him with all our hearts and be seen in our lives as we serve God in our family and to everybody.

Old Times

         Our family has survived almost 4 decades of distant past, with God's grace, and still be surviving in the future years.

       Here is a photo of us, four siblings, in a place we considered our own.  (Credits to my brother Eric for restoring this photo).  
      As I take a look at the photo, I remembered how simple and happy as a child our life has been, living in a 2-story wooden house, with pandan serving as our gate, the carabao grass our lawn, with trees everywhere and several banana plants around. The wide grassland around us served as our playground, with games such as hide and seek, baseball, pitiw, luksong tinik, habulan, football, basketball, we played guns out of banana stalk or wooden guns with aratilis as pellets, we played bahay-bahayan with my brother older Alvin building our house made of banana or gabi leaves, we climb trees and even the swamp as our swimming pool.
        A lot of childhood memories were etched in my mind in our house: my fly-out- the-window experience, my 6-stitches wound on my right leg, my brother's open wound on the skull, my brothers' fishing expeditions, my younger brother and my lakwatsa around the neighborhood, my older brother's booming basketball career and our nightly view of WWE matches via our neighbor's television (few houses away from us).  
       Until Diversion Road (Benigno Aquino Highway) was constructed, which also served as our free-willy-slide-down-the-hill game and wall climbing facility near the river bank.
       Cuartero-Diversion Road is where we grow up physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually at Highway Evangelical Church.  Our church has permanently moved a block away from its original location and since the expansion of the highway is on-going, we are also moving!   Whether in a low-cost relocation site or a high-cost town house, we are leaving our house in the next few weeks!
       Just like old times, we will survive and make meaningful memories as we move on, (just like my sister and her family and my younger brother and his family), with God's goodness.  Memories or making memories may not be always joyful, some are sorrowful and burdensome, but still we carry on, just like old times!

       

       

Firstborn

         The term first born primarily refers to as the eldest, the first in the family.  Secondly, it refers to the rights and authority of a person.   In the Old Testament times, the firstborn receives a double inheritance and one who would inherit his father's role as head of the family.  So expectations are high for a firstborn to be male.

        Every family expects a firstborn- whether it is the first child of a couple or the first grandchild, niece  or nephew, a cousin or  a god child.  In the bible, Cain was the first born of human kind.  Like every family we were expecting a firstborn in our household-the first grandchild, the first niece or nephew.  

         At the start of the new millennium, our household was expecting a firstborn.  But it is neither a daughter nor a son but a blessing: a fraternal twin of a boy and girl (separated by nearly 2 weeks of conception).  It was March 29, 2001, when two first born came into our family: AM and PM.

Growing Up Years:
       The joy of having kids at home is rewarding, de-stressing and inspiring.  Taking care of the twins is a shared obligation by my brother and his wife, my mother, my (then, unmarried) sister and mine.

         Raising a child as they say is even more difficult task than child-bearing.  Not only you deal with their needs but also their tantrums.  The joyful part, you get to discover their likes, their talents, their skills which you got to support  to hone them.

The 3-day 13th Birthday Celebration
         As Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you...".  So, "the end to childhood celebration" started with a prayer meeting at home where Tricia and Aldrex  invited classmates to come over.  After dinner was the "dance in the front yard" party.  The second day (Saturday of March 29, 2014) was shop- with-mama- time where "buy me this "and buy me that" happened.  Sunday is always family day, where singing, playing, dining, shopping(groceries) and they  got to lead the Children's Sunday Worship.

The Conclusion:
        To end this narrative of mine, let me give 3 wishes on this your Birthday:
         
1.  Since you were the first born in the family, I have given you importance, given you both my time, my talents, my strength, my finances, my dreams...  My wish is for you to value the people around you and cling on to your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ("So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.- Psalms 90:12")

2.  Don't give up on that "heart of a child".  Be cheerful, be playful, be forgiving and loving..

3.   Continue on your dreams and work on it.  The people who cared for you since you were born will always be there to support you! And cling on to this assurance in the Bible "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:11-12

Lastly...
      If I could account the times since your birth, i t would take me days to finish this...but to summarize, you were expected, you were welcomed and you were loved by all of us in the family!

First Hand

     The story, news and updates on Yolanda's wrath is unending especially in the severely hit Tacloban but relief goods have not reached the farthest barangays in the those areas.  Like Leyte, Samar, Cebu and Capiz, the Northern part of Iloilo is already tired of waiting.  They are in dire need of food, medicines, materials for shelter and clothing.

           The news, the photos can somehow touch you to help, be it cash donations,  share goods, repack goods, include in prayers or personally deliver.  

THE NEED TO HELP

           The Iloilo National High School has been the drop point of donations from all over Iloilo for accepting, re-packing and delivering goods to Northern Iloilo.  INHS-School Of the Future students also shared a day of their baon for the victims and gave goods, such as noodles, canned goods, coffee, chocolate drink, rice, bottled water and clothing.  SOF teachers give in  money to purchase biscuits, With that unselfish act by these students (and teachers), I myself would like to deliver goods to the farthest part of Iloilo, Carles. The suggestion came from my Tita (a local of Isla Gigantes) that the residents have not receive any help only helicopters on aerial survey and news men to monitor the island.  People from the Islands not only are hungry but have lost their homes and motorboats or rowboats as well.  

THE RESPONSE TO THE NEED

         Early morning of November 17, 2013,  we (I, my aunt, 2 cousins and 4 of my students) rented a van to load 15 sacks of clothing, few boxes and sacks of goods (from the second floor of FJ building) to get us to Estancia wharf.  The loading and uloading of goods from a 2-motor engine to a smaller motorboat to get us to Sitio Danao-danao in Barangay Gabi, Isla Gigantes is tiring, but when we saw people gathering around us as we prepare for distribution is so overwhelming, we even forgot we have not taken our lunch!

THE MEDIA HYPE

      "They say" you put yourself in danger going to these affected areas, truckloads of relief goods have police/army escorts to go with them since recipients are like ravening wolves when they saw aid coming.  We came with goods together with our escort, our God and his army of angels! What a joy to see cooperative residents patiently waiting for their name to be called and be given goods we brought.  They say some of then ate coconuts for breakfast, lunch or dinner for a week of waiting for help.  

THE FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE

       I have heard stories of fellow teachers, friends, students of the their dreadful experience on Yolanda's wrath but to personally see what has happened is so sad.  You will see children along the road waiting for passerby to throw or drop coins to them, you will see signage "HELP, we need food and medicine" and even "Mapalad ka Napoles...", you will see damages to homes, trees and schools.   

       My cousins and Aunt drop by check on my Aunt in Ajuy.  She relates tearfully what she experienced during the typhoon, alone and scared. Crying as we travel to Sara up to Estancia, the more damages revealed in our sights. 2 hours of land travel is over and another 2 hours of water travel is waiting, waiting to unravel more of Yolanda's wrath!

        This first-hand experience of giving goods is so heart-warming.  As we hand in 1 pack of food and 2 packs of clothing, residents of Sitio Danao-danao responded with glee, the thank you, the handshake, the smiles are so memorable!

        

THE CHALLENGE

        The call for help is still up, you can still help! May it be in kind, cash or whisper a pray, the victims of Yolanda's wrath need that! The need to help and share is always there, go share your blessings and be blessed!

     

       

        

Teacher

    A teacher - one who talk a lot in the four corners of the classroom, one who let you do the talking, one who gives you a lot of burdens or demands, one who inspires you to be better, one who notices your faults, one who can be your mother, your friend...

  Whatever a teacher is to you, you will always remember a teacher. What you have learned and what you have become.

  As a teacher I would like to share an output written by a student in her chemistry journal just this first grading period (and expecting more in the next grading periods and the next years):

"Do you ever wonder what's the role of chemistry in our daily life? Why do we need to study it? What is there in chemistry that doesn't contain any other subject matters? Is chemistry really that important? We actually use or apply chemistry in our daily life, we just didn't recognized it. Like observing the people around you. That's part of a scientific method. Or burning a plastic. That's a chemical change. Breathing is also chemistry. All problems have answers and solutions. Believe it or not, it is simply chemistry.

Like us, chemistry had its own past. Aristotle became the most influential of the Greek philosophers, and he proposed that there were also four fundamental properties mainly hotness, coldness, dryness and wetness. From the beginning of the Christian Era to the 17th and 18th centuries was the period of chemistry known as Alchemy. It is the science concerned with transmutation of one element into another. Until the latter part of the 18th century, chemistry didn't evolve. Antoine Laurant ea Voisier was considered the father of modern chemistry. In the middle of the nineteenth century, only about sixty elements were known. The first periodic table was published by Dmitri Mendeleev.

Solving how many meters are there in one kilometer is also a part of chemistry. You use the DAM Conversion. You can also convert grams to kilograms, liters to milliliter and hours to seconds. If you have a fever, you can also convert your temperature. Try converting celsius into fahrenheit. Even though you're sick you can still apply the concept of chemistry. Mole Conversion, now that's another kind of conversion. You use the Avogadro's Number (6.02 × 1023) made by the Italian chemist, Amadeo Avogadro. Atoms are the smallest particle of an element. Inside an atom, you can find the nucleus. Inside the nucleus there is a proton and a neutron. The electrons are circling around the nucleus. Each with it's own charge, proton has a positive one, electrons have negative while the neutron has none. To be honest, in all of our lessons, I find the mole conversion hard.

The human eye observes changes in matter, but how to identify what type of change the matter underwent? Changes in matter occur every day. There are two types of ways how matter changes. First the Physical Change, like cutting a sheet of paper. It would still be paper however it would be a different shape. And second is the Chemical Change like burning the paper to ashes. You can't return ashes to paper, right? Matter is known to exist in three states; solid, liquid and gas. Solids have molecules that are near each other, that's why it has a definite shape and volume. The molecules of a liquid are not that far from each other but it only takes the shape of the container. While the molecules of gas are far away from each other. That's the reason why gas has no definite volume or shape.

Chemistry is a big part of our lives. You will find chemistry in our daily food. Your body is made up of chemical compounds. The emotions you feel like love, jealousy, envy, infatuation and infidelity all share a basis in chemistry. Everything in our world is made of chemicals. Now tell me, is chemistry not important?"

"Danielle cecilia Sulit"

and this one

http://chemistryandus.blogspot.com/2013/08/mole-conversion.html

 

Dealing with Numbers

     Numbers, whether we like or not, significant or not, important or not, we deal with it 24/7.

     Numbers are significant in sports to keep track of the standings, statistics, etc..The winning streak of an NBA team, the current standing of a favorite PBA team, the win-loss record of the sought after UFC fighter, the grand slams of the current top 5 in ATP ranking, the number of goals of the famous striker, numbers are important.

      Everyday as I go to school, in order to time in, we need numbers, withdrawing salary from ATM's personal identification numbers are needed.  Most of  Identification Cards in my wallet are coded with numbers.  Recently, as we are making school forms, LRN (Learners' Reference Number) are needed to be  included.  We just can't get away with numbers!  Call it crazy, scary or witty, numbers can say it all.

     Today, as I listen to 7 speakers of the 7 Last Words of Jesus on the cross, numbers still lodged in my head that one the speakers mentioned and I think is noteworthy.  Jesus Christ our redeemer, said 7 important words, hanged on 1 cross with 3 nails and 1 goal: that is to save us all!  Thank you,  Lord, for dying on the cross for the redemption of our sins! To God Be The Glory!

      .

Re:search

                                                             The image of  triumph!
                              Credits to my brother, for being a gracious, our guide, our photographer.


    After 3 regional contests, 1 division and 1 national level,  hopefully next school year researchers will repeat that which SOF SY 2012-2013 have been through.

    It's almost summer break, thinking already of travel, island hopping and burning my skin to the heat of the sun, but researches  is burning my gray matter already.  One advisee came to me and said we're starting to make a national-worth-research paper, hopefully we can come up with that!  But the saying "You can't teach what you don't have" is quite demeaning, got to search and re-search with my students so that I could re-search myself in this enjoyable summer break.  Refreshing waters, here I come!